Video: Ocean Planning: Enhancing and Protecting Our Fisheries

This is a guest blog post from Jennifer McCann, Director of U.S. Coastal Programs at the University of Rhode Island (URI) Coastal Resources Center and Director of Extension Programs for Rhode Island Sea Grant. It is part of an ongoing video series on the value of smart ocean planning.

This film offers thinking from practitioners about how ocean planning — with its emphasis on integrating planning approaches across multiple resources and user groups — could help solve complicated economic, social and environmental issues challenging the fishing industry.

As a diver with a huge respect for what our oceans provide to us daily, and as a cyclist who deals with “Share the Road” issues daily as cars and trucks buzz by me with little safety margin, it truly boils down to one thing…. respect.

Its a little scary they all seem to think that with good planning fishing rates are sustainable which they are not. If we we smart and brave we would stop all fishing that is way more important to global peace health and the future then any of the crummy wars we are fighting . If we would just take that money and clean up get the ghost nets out stop the ocean dumping attach the fishing licenses to the nets not the boats or companies we would see a rebound of at least some species and we might just find out that they aren’t all coming back. Cod fishing anyone?